London Daily Mail |
Zuck on This!
Open borders Mark Zuckerberg builds his own
Border Wall to keep out the Hoi Polloi
(McClatchy News) - Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Hundreds of people are set to gather at the property of a billionaire to peacefully protest what they see as his bullying, dismissive attitude.
No, it’s not President Donald Trump. It’s Facebook CEO (and trendy pick to run for president in 2020) Mark Zuckerberg.
Zuckerberg, one of the world’s richest men, spent $100 million to buy 700 acres of land on the island of Kauai in Hawaii, per the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. At the time, Forbes Magazine described the estate as a “secluded” property for Zuckerberg’s family.
But according to local news reports, the estate isn’t quite as secluded as one might think. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that locals have attempted to use an old trail that passes through the property, only to be harassed and intimidated by security. Some have even filed police complaints.
Zuckerberg keeping the "lower orders" away from his home. |
So in June 2016, Zuckerberg constructed a six-foot wall along part of his property, despite protests from locals, who called in a “monstrosity” and not neighborly, per The Garden Island, a local newspaper.
Now, more than six months later, around 200 locals are expected to march in protest along the wall this Saturday, per Business Insider.
But why did it take so long for a protest to form?
That’s because the protest isn’t just about an architectural squabble. It also has to do with the fact that although Zuckerberg owns control over the land, he is not the only one with rights to it. In particular, several parcels of land, totaling less than eight acres of the 700, belong in part to families who inherited the land through the Kuleana Act, a 167-year-old Hawaiian law.
The law allowed native families to legally own the land where they lived, and when those owners died without a will, the rights were supposed to pass on to the person’s heir. As ownership was passed down from generation to generation, Zuckerberg was able to buy a controlling interest in the land. However, the Kuleana Act still allows descendants of the original owners who still own their shares to access their land parcels, making it difficult for Zuckerberg’s security team to deny people entrance, per the Hololulu Star-Advertiser.
And so in mid-January, Zuckerberg filed eight lawsuits seeking to force the remaining owners to sell the land using a legal process known as “quiet title,” in which a state court determines ownership of a disputed piece of land, per Hawaii News Now. “Quiet title” has commonly been used to force defendants to be evicted from properties, per NOLO.com.
Read More . . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment